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National Award, Commander of the Most Illustrious Order of Merit (CM) given by the Governor General of Antigua and Barbuda, Dame Louise Lake Tac. Photo by Kaibourne- Wikimedia commons

Top 10 Most Famous People from Antigua and Barbuda

1.Zahra Airall

Zahra Airall is an Antiguan and Barbudan writer, feminist activist, film director and screenwriter. She is a co – founder and executive of the organization Women of Antigua.

She is the artistic director of Antigua’s Sugar Apple Theatre. She has written plays like The Forgotten, which was played by Antigua Girls’ High School in the Caribbean Secondary Schools Drama Festival.

Airall is a major donor to She Sex, a collaborative book written in sections by various Caribbean women. She also creates short stories like “The Looking Glass.” She created a one-of-a-kind narration for Heather Doram.

She has received numerous National Youth Awards (Antigua), such as the award for literary arts in 2016.

2.Cejhae Colin Greene

Cejhae Colin Greene was born on October 6, 1995. He is a sprinter from Antigua. He went to Princess Margaret High School. Cejhae is the first of Jonah and Colin Greene’s three children.

Greene took bronze in the 100m at the 2012 Central American and Caribbean Junior Athletics Championships in San Salvador, El Salvador. Greene progressed past the round of heats in his Olympic breakout performance in Rio at the 2016 Summer Olympics however, completed at seventh place in his semifinal and did not progress to the final.

He has qualified for the Summer Olympics in 2020.

Greene was named Antigua and Barbuda Sportsman of the Year in 2017.

3.Dee-Ann Kentish-Rogers

Dee-Ann Kentish-Rogers of Anguilla competing at the 2014 Commonwealth Games – Athletics Day 4. Photo by Graham Campbell- Wikimedia commons

Dee-Ann Kentish-Rogers was born on January 13, 1993. She is a British-Anguillan politician who serves as Anguilla’s Minister of Education and Social Development. She has worked as a model, beauty contest winner and athlete.

She was won Miss Universe Great Britain 2018 and represented the United Kingdom at the Miss Universe 2018 pageant, finishing in the Top 20. Rogers was the first black woman to represent the United Kingdom in a Miss Universe pageant. For ten days in February 2022, she served as acting premier of Anguilla.

Kentish-Rogers holds a law degree from the University of Birmingham. She is not only a supermodel and a lawyer, in addition to being a talented athlete who participated in the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

She was a heptathlete who contested in the 400m in India in 2010 and the heptathlon in Scotland in 2014. She won bronze in the pentathlon at the 2012 CARIFTA Games in Hamilton, Bermuda.

Kentish-Rogers was appointed to the Anguilla House of Assembly on June 29, 2020, beating long – serving Premier Victor Banks for the Valley South seat.

Kentish-Rogers is an associate of the Anguilla Progressive Movement, which won a House of Assembly majority. She was elected Minister of Education and Social Development in Anguilla.

Kentish-Rogers is of Anguillan descent and divides her time between the United Kingdom and the British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. One of her biggest sponsors has been the Anguilla Tourist Board.

Kentish-Rogers represented as acting premier of Anguilla for ten days in February 2022 while the Premier, Ellis Webster, was not on the island.

4.Keita de Castro

Keita de Castro was born on the 23rd of May, 1981. He is an Antiguan and Barbudan footballer who played in the USL Professional Division for Antigua Barracuda FC.

De Castro started his football career with Empire FC in 2003, assisting the club finish fourth in the Antigua and Barbuda Premier Division, although he only stayed with the team for one season. After five years without a team, de Castro signed a contract deal with All Saints United in 2008 and spent three seasons there.

De Castro joined the new Antigua Barracuda FC club before its inaugural season in the USL Professional Division in 2011. On April 27, 2011, he made his Barracudas first appearance in a 7-0 win over Puerto Rico United.

De Castro made his first appearance for Antigua and Barbuda in 2008 and he has since made nine debuts for his country. He was a member of the Antigua squad that competed in the final stages of the Caribbean Championship in 2010.

5.Theophile Eddison Roberts

Opening batsman on his way to 100. Photo by Michael Weir- Unsplash

On January 23, 1959, Theophile Eddison Roberts was born. He is a retired English cricketer of Antiguan origin. Roberts batted right-handed and bowled right-arm fast-medium.

Roberts made his Berkshire Minor Counties Championship appearance against Buckinghamshire in 1984. From 1984 to 1985, he participated in 12 Minor Counties Championship games for Berkshire, the last of which was in the 1985 Championship against Buckinghamshire.

Roberts also represented Berkshire in the MCCA Knockout Trophy. His first appearance in that competition was in 1984, when Berkshire faced Buckinghamshire. From 1984 to 1985, he participated in four Trophy tournaments for the county, the last of which was against Shropshire in the 1985 MCCA Knockout Trophy.

He also appeared in two List-A matches for Berkshire. In the 1984 NatWest Trophy, he made his List-A appearance for the county against Kent. The following season, he appeared in his second and final List-A match, when Berkshire faced Hampshire in the 1985 NatWest Trophy at Southampton’s County Ground.

He took two wickets in two tournaments, with a bowling average of 56.00 and best figures of 2/42.

6.Heather Doram

Heather Doram is an Antiguan artist, actor, activist, and educator who designed the national costume of Antigua and Barbuda. In appreciation of her lifelong accomplishments, she was honored with the Grand Cross of the Most Illustrious Order of Merit (Antigua) in 2002.

Doram was born in Antigua to a tailor mother and a father who worked in the sugar industry. Her family stayed on a handful of sugar estates as a result of her father’s work. She joined Antigua Girls’ High School in St John’s before enrolling in the University of the West Indies to pursue an Associate Degree in Education.

She transferred to her former school and was granted financial support to study for a BFA in Textiles at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts in Kingston a few years down the line.

In 1994, she was awarded a scholarship to attend Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), where her work was selected to represent the university at the Venice Biennale.

SCAD also bought the vast bulk of her thesis portfolio after her graduation for its permanent collection. When she returned to Antigua, she worked for the Ministry of Education, advising them on arts curricula, and was named Director of Culture in 2003.

Her work includes a mural at V.C. Bird International Airport, collages, and woven wall hangings. She and her husband, Connie Doram, created award-winning carnival costumes.

In 2020, she called for changes to the Antigua Carnival costume judging criteria to include and recognize the importance of new mas costumes (masquerade costumes). She left the company in 2006.

Doram has a successful acting career that began in the 1990s, in addition to her work as an artist and educator. She has starred in movies, television shows and stage productions such as The Vagina Monologues, The Sweetest Mango, and a Zahra Airall monologue.

7.Ranjae Christian

Christian, Ranjae, was born on December 18, 1977. He is an Antiguan footballer who currently plays for Antigua Barracuda FC and the Antigua and Barbuda national team in the USL Professional Division.

Christian started his career with Trinidadian club Joe Public in 2000 before returning home to play for Bassa SC in 2002. Christian spent nearly a decade with Bassa in the Antigua and Barbuda Premier Division, where he won five league titles (in 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, and 2010), two Antigua and Barbuda FA Cup titles (in 2008 and 2010), and was the league’s top scorer in 2007 with 15 goals.

He also competed in the CFU Club Championship three times, reaching the quarterfinals in both 2005 and 2007.

Christian joined the new Antigua Barracuda FC team before its inaugural season in the USL Professional Division in 2011. He made his Barracudas appearance on April 27, 2011, in a 7-0 win over Puerto Rico United, scoring his team’s seventh goal in the 78th minute.

8.June Ambrose

June Ambrose was born on the 5th of June, 1971. She is an American stylist, costume designer, author, creative director, influencer, and TV host of Antiguan descent. She is presently Puma’s creative director for women’s basketball (brand).

Ambrose is widely regarded for dressing influential hip hop and rhythm and blues artists in haute couture and she was one of the first to do so, most prominently for Missy Elliott and Jay-Z in famous 1990s music videos.

Ambrose was born in 1971 in Antigua and raised in The Bronx. She graduated from Talent Unlimited High School and worked briefly in investment banking before interning at MCA Records, where she started styling upcoming musicians.

Ambrose has created over 200 music videos and worked as a stylist on The X Factor as well as the costume designer for the 1998 film Belly. She released her book, Effortless Style, in 2006 and hosted her own reality television show on VH1 in 2012.

Ambrose was recruited by Puma in 2020 and launched her first fashion line, High Court, in December 2021, which was also the company’s first-ever women’s basketball clothing line.

9.Rupert Scotland

Opening batsman on his way to 100. Photo by Michael Weir- Unsplash

Rupert Scotland was born on September 2, 1937 and passed away on June 7, 2012. He was a Bermudian cricketer of Antiguan origin. He batted right-handed and bowled right-arm medium pace.

He performed in the Leeward Islands’ opening ceremony first-class tournament against Jamaica in 1958 and later in Bermuda’s opening ceremony first-class tournament against New Zealand in 1972. It was the Bermuda cricket team’s first-ever first-class match.

On June 7, 2012, he died after a long illness. Cleon Scotland, his son, performed in the List A cricket for Bermuda.

10.Brendan Kyle Akeem Christian

Akeem Brendan Kyle Christian was born on December 11th, 1983. He is an Antigua and Barbuda sprinter who focuses on the 200m race. He was born in Antigua, the son of Donald Christian, a cyclist who contested in the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal.

His personal record 100m time is 10.09 seconds, which he set in Nivelles in June 2009. He also holds the Antiguan and Barbudan record in the 4 x 100 meter relay (39.90 seconds).

He won silver in a tournament as a junior at the 2002 World Junior Championships, where he also completed sixth in the 100 meters. He then participated in the Summer Olympics in 2004, reaching the quarter-finals and the Commonwealth Games in 2006, reaching the semi-finals.

At the Pan American Games in 2007, he managed to win the 100m bronze medal and the 200m gold medal. Quickly after, he reached the semi-finals of both events at the 2007 World Championships. In the 200 meters, he set a national record of 20.23 seconds.

Christian competed for Antigua and Barbuda in the Summer Olympics in Beijing in 2008. He ran the 200m and finished second in his first round heat after Aaron Armstrong in 20.58 seconds. In the second round, he advanced his time to 20.26 seconds and managed to win his race ahead of Churandy Martina and Kristof Beyens. He finished fifth in his semi-final race in 20.29 seconds, missing out on a spot in the Olympic final.

He reached the semi-finals of the 2012 Summer Olympics again, but finished fifth, missing out on a place in the final.